Standardised safety law being called for

Posted on July 25^th 2008

A call for standardising the rules of replacing marine distress signals and safety products has been started by Chemring Marine.

The move comes in response to the different regulations in place in different countries could allow signals to be as much as 17 months out of date.

In the USA for example the current regulations say that distress signals can be left in a lifeboat if they are not out of date at the time of servicing.

Add this to the 5 months special dispensation that is given if the lifeboat is not near an approved service centre the signal could be almost 17 months out of date from its fixed life.

Because they are pyrotechnics they do degrade with time losing colour and increasing burn time. This then reduces their ability to be distinguished as distress flares.

The proposal put forward is that if a safety device or signal will be out of date before its next service then it should be replaced there and then.

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